Playing Penny for the day at JSinSA

Arriving at JSinSA I felt like Penny from Big Bang Theory. Everyone seemed to be speaking a different language and using ‘big words’ like API methods and java. As I stepped into this parallel universe I was pretty bewildered and knew I going to be confused, a lot.

Granted I was at a Javascript Development Conference.

In its fourth year, JSinSA is aimed at the industry peeps. So it was unsurprising that the technical sessions went right over my head. However, the real surprise was that I wanted to be there and to learn more. To soak it all in and hopefully soak up some of the tech awesomeness dripping off the hardcore web developers, who were some of the best devs in the country.

“Java coffee refers to coffee beans produced in the Indonesian island of Java. In some countries “Java” can refer to coffee in general.”

Dev

“The shortened version of Developer”

*Edit’s note – these definitions have been sourced directly from Wikipedia.*

The vibe was one of general tech geek awesomeness and after 15 minutes of standing around awkwardly, I chatted latched onto a group of guys, who, unknowingly, would be my guide into the world of coding for the day.

The opening speech from Simon Stewart (Founder of @JSinSA, @FindFreeWiFi, @FindABookShop) had some great key points applicable to not only the dev industry, but life in general:

Practice – if you love something and want to be better at it you’ve got to put in the hours. Practice, practice, practice.

Embrace failure – fail fast and learn from it. Don’t be afraid to try, failing is part of the process to getting better.

Do what you love.

Love what you do.

“Don’t let the bozos grind you down”– We’re all being judged by someone who isn’t even close to having their own shit together – so don’t let the bozos grind you down.

One thing that struck me was how few females were there, in a group of 125 there were 5 of us. Coding seems to be a very male dominated industry, which got this Penny thinking, are there any Tech Girls out there who want to know more about coding?

The ability to tell your java from your java beans?

If you’d be interested in learning about coding (and even not so interested) comment on this post and let us know. You stand to win a gorgeous Nude Audio portable Bluetooth speaker (it also has a dual microphone so turns into portable speaker phone & is designed to travel with its silicon cover).

Health & fitness fiend. Brand Manager. Writer, hovering art director. Comfort zone challenger. Eyebrow raiser. Design-o-holic in a heavy like with poetry. When she’s not working, writing or socializing, you’ll find her in the gym perfecting the one-leg squat, purchasing another unnecessary pair of blindingly bright trainers or on a quest to mix the perfect margarita . She has a serious aversion to fleece and still borrows books from the library. Read more articles by: Lexie Parker

I suspect the best way to increase women developers is to reach them at school. I think it is the same with getting a more mixed racial profile. But I have no idea how to find a school willing to partner with some kind of code skills program that would appeal to people who don’t code.

If you need a hand with tech talks, I am always keen to help. I’m debating trying to do a NodeSchool session later this year (it will force me to learn more Node JS, and get some exposure to arranging an event)

About me

My name is Sam. A South African geek who loves gadgets, technology and Esports. I'm obsessed with South African Esports, own far too many pairs of Converse and secretly wish I could be one of the X-Men. This little blog is a space to find friends who share my geekiness and love for gaming, gadgets and Esports. Welcome!

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